Like Moths To A Flame
by MysterySky8
Summary: Another day another misfortune, well, atleast,that's how life is for Yuugi. Always attracting attention from the unknown, too bad Yuugi can't see what he is attracting. How can one protect his/her from from the things that they cannot see? full sum inside
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Yuugi Mouto, an angelic faced boy who seems to attract a lot of unwanted attention from negative and supernatural forces. The only problem is that, well, he can't see most of those forces. How can someone protect themselves from things they can't see?

Maybe a mysterious golden puzzle can solve all this confusion?

Another day another misfortune, or, at least that's how it was for Yuugi Mouto. Every day, _something_ pertaining to bad luck or the feeling of being watched always followed Yuugi wherever he went. Sadly, it's one reason why no one was his friend, and sadly, that's a reason he was targeted constantly from bullies. His grandfather, Sugoroku, had offered countless times to get him enrolled into a Private School, but Sugoroku had no money to keep his offer true. But that didn't stop the man from trying; the man had done his darndest to save up money for his grandson, and when the bullying had got so bad to the point the boy was hospitalized on repeated occurrences, Sugoroku was so desperate that he even thought of selling his most prized shop. His most prized shop that held all the memories of raising his daughter, living with his wife, and most importantly, watching over the young youth Yuugi. But, as Sugoroku believed, your loved ones are always with you even when you are separated, but that didn't stop him from hesitating to sell the shop. Also, what would happen if he were to die? If he died and left Yuugi without a home, without protection, without love, and without the comfort of the memories that were embedded into the shop, what would he do? How could you protect someone you hold dear from the negative forces they unknowingly attract to themselves?

Yuugi shuddered, an ice cold feeling of air, of _something_ leaving trails of cold attaching itself onto his skin, refusing to move away even though it was uncommonly hot outside. Fear built up, but it wasn't anything new. Yuugi knew that once he passed the clothing store that sold wedding dresses, the feeling would only intensify. And if he took the back alleyway behind the hair salon to get home quickly, apathetic bullies that only felt the pleasure of others pain would be waiting for him. He would rather take the creepy cold than have to go through _another_ hospitalization again. The last time Ushio and his gang caught him, he had to stay in the hospital for three drug-high days getting patched up and repaired just to go through the same thing again after he recovered from broken ribs and intense bruises. Life was hard, yes, it was indeed hard. One reason his grandpa was so broke was because he had to pay the hospital bills, but thankfully due to Yuugi becoming a normal customer, the hospital didn't charge Sugoroku near as much as they should. Sometimes, when Yuugi had attained beatings that had landed him for weeks stuck in the hospital recovering, the doctors kindly didn't charge Sugoroku at all.

Yuugi was halfway home when the intensifying cold finally disappeared out of nowhere, but to only be replaced by an aching heat that made Yuugi feel like he would topple over from intense dehydration in a matter of seconds. Huh, that was new. Yuugi silently cursed in non-cursing words like dang, and shoot! It was amazing at how he himself achieved staying innocent, but not in an ignorant way. Yuugi was everything but ignorant, it's probably due to negativities attraction to him that has kept him aware of the world and what dangers inhabits it, but that didn't mean he was aware of EVERYTHING. Yuugi could feel things like the drop and rise of temperature, but he never saw the shadows, he never saw the lust-filled gleam in eyes that followed his every move, and he wasn't aware that the creatures that caused his misfortune was always in his presence, dying to be noticed by their prey. Blame his lack of a sixth sense for his unknown ignorance to those creatures, for like most people in the world, he does not see the unknown that dwell in world, hiding in the shadows.

Huffing and clutching his parched throat, Yuugi rose to his feet and sprinted with his remaining energy to his home. He ignored the pain in his throat with some ease due to being used to having worse wounds and made his way finally to the front of the game shop. As soon as he stepped into the domain of his home, the heat started to dissipate, taking the dehydrated feeling with it thankfully. He called out in his normal tone, "Grandpa, I'm home!" Dropping his school bag to the ground by the stairs that led up to his room, he headed straight to the kitchen to quench his earlier thirst that he had gained from the heat that had radiated its waves of heat onto him. Grabbing a water bottle from the fridge, he downed the bottle in a matter of 10 seconds; a new record. After disposing of the bottle to only grab another, Yuugi walked into the shop part of the house that was separated by a measly paper sliding door and different floor tiles. Sure enough, Yuugi walked to the counter to find his grandpa in a half-dazed sleep clutching onto a wooden box covered in an extremely dense layer of tape, which could quite possibly cushion the box if it ever fell onto the cold floor. "Grandpa?" Yuugi asked tenderly, not really wanting to wake the man. A few seconds later, Sugoroku awoke from his half-slumber and blinked his eyes cutely, or at least as cute as an old man could get. Then suddenly, he shot up from his seat and handed the box he was holding to Yuugi. "There is a magic puzzle inside Yuugi," he said, in his serious yet ancient voice, "I've heard rumors that the person that solves it will be granted one wish. I want you to have it." Yuugi was awestruck, his grandpa did something that he did not have to do for him, yet he still did it instead of doing something for himself. Yuugi was grateful, for everything his grandfather gave him he cherished deeply. "Thank you, Grandpa!" Yuugi cried, wanting to give the old man a crushing hug to show him how grateful he was, but couldn't due to the box in his hands. Also, Yuugi wasn't quite sure if his grandpa's bones would be able to handle the hug that he wanted to give him. Though, Yuugi settled with leaning on his grandpa for a small, grateful childish hug. "Where did you get it Grandpa?" Yuugi asked curiosity and anxiety growning with every passing second. "There was a dig in Egypt, you know, the really important one 2 years ago, and I happened to stumble across it." His grandpa's old face held a smile filled to the brink with pride, and his dull amethyst colored eyes gleamed with happiness and love. It was sight for sore eyes; Sugoroku hadn't smiled like that in years, minus the pride though. His grandpa's smile made him visibly jump up and down with joy and a want to finish the puzzle immediately. He placed the water bottle he was holding down and began to work on removing the blasted tape from the box, which was indeed, going to take hours. Oh joy.

**Please read all of the authors note, for it is important.**

**Hiya readers! It's been a LONG time since I updated anything old or posted anything on for that matter! Now, if y'all want updates, y'all have to review so I know I'm not speaking to empty air! Oh yea, and speaking of old fics, well, I decided to delete angelic truths and start over later. I also wanted to say that I'm looking for a beta that wouldn't mind betaing my chapters for this story, or if there is a beta with time, I'm also searching for a beta for the xxxholic story I'm also working on. It would be really awesome if I found a beta that doesn't mind working on both with me, but I'm a grateful person and will take what I get.**

**I always forget the disclaimer so I only want to say this once, I sadly DON'T own Yu-Gi-Oh, yes, very sad indeed. If I did own it, Yu-Gi-Oh! would've been shonenai and would have never EVER come into contact with 4Kids. Though I do believe the guys that did Yami, Yugi, and Joey's voices did excellent jobs, though that's probably just me ^^:**

**Oh yea, one last thing. For now since I'm unsure about what the rating should be, I'm going to rate it M because of future (lime I believe is what it's called) sexual (but not sex) situations and blood and gore. Also, people, if you find gay relationships of any kind a bother to you, please do not read this. I do not want to put with comments that negatively judge gay relationships, so you are warned now. I will spare you my rage if you listen to my warning. Thank you for reading and see you next time! **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: It's Only The Beginning Of Your Troubles

**Warning, there's a small paragraph of gore around the end of the chapter and minor (extremely minor) cursing.**

Yuugi had spent hours trying to peel the blasted tape off the small box while his misfortune seemed to be laughing at him today, forcing him to take his time when he had clearly wanted to be as quick as possible when removing the tape. The layers of tape ended up being too **thick** to cut, so Yuugi had ended up peeling the tape off the box in slow agony. The job would've been a lot easier if the tape wasn't the cheap kind, breaking off whenever an excess amount of power was used to pull and sending the strip still connected to the box flying in some random direction while it got stuck in a random spot. Yuugi was getting so impatient that he had swore that when he was done with the deed of stripping the clingy tape off the box, he would never touch a piece of tape ever again.

It was getting close to midnight and Yuugi was still not done removing the tape, his patience was already worn thin and he decided to finish the deed tomorrow, once he had gained some more patience and a better mood. Getting up from the counter, Yuugi turned off the shop light and headed to his room to prepare for bed with the box in his hands.

Tape, cheap tape haunted his dreams that night; the tape hadn't wanted to leave the box and would cling in desperation when it was pulled off, moaning incoherent words that was loud enough to wake the dead. It was keeping a strong barrier around the box and its contents, keeping Yuugi's hands away at all cost. At one point, the tape had _bit _Yuugi when he had successfully taken a piece off, and it turned to dust like a vampire when it meets its end in sunlight. The nightmare had continued on until the puzzle started glowing, making its light past the tape and turning all the tape to dust. No more cheap tape. Relief had flooded into Yuugi as he reached for the box to finally take the puzzle out, just as his hand touched the box, the alarm clock went off.

BEEPBEEP-BEEP... Yuugi's hand slammed down immediately on the little Kuriboh clock, successfully shutting the clock up before it had time to keep its speakers shouting. The clock sat there innocently facing Yuugi like it had never made a peep in the first place, staring at Yuugi with the plastic creature's fake plastic eyes, willing him to wake up. Like always, the Kuriboh clock won the quick staring contest and Yuugi got up tiredly. His bones cracked as they were moved for the first time in hours and the feeling of bitter-sweetness filled him. He was tired as hell from staying up till midnight, and he was filled with happiness from being rid of that...vampiric(?) cheap tape from his dreams.

Yuugi walked to the bathroom to do his normal routine: putting new bandages on wounds, brushing his teeth, trying to tame his hair, and putting on his uniform. His golden bangs framed his child-like cheeks, bringing out his big, bright amethyst colored eyes, but not all of his hair was colored a golden blond. Yuugi's hair in the back spiked up in a dark red, almost black color that lightened at the tips to an almost violet color. It was an exotic yet child-like appearance, but most people couldn't let their pride down to see that((1) Refer to authors note). All most people could see was a freaky (natural) hairstyle and a strange melanin mutation in the young adults eyes, not to mention all the bad luck he tends to bring around. All these strange features labeled Yuugi as a freak of nature, which meant that parents made sure he knew that he was not allowed to get near their children, and that he should be put in a laboratory. Though, Yuugi's grandpa did not have any of THAT.

Walking downstairs, he felt the smell of Tamago kake Gohan (a Japanese breakfast consisting of rice, egg, and soy sauce) crash into his nose. His stomach made an immediate response with the smell and released a loud growl, matching the demanding feral sound of an animal. Yuugi rushed downstairs to the food and tripped as soon as he reached the last step, his face making contact with the floor. His grandpa didn't jump at all from the sound, he was quite used to Yuugi always tripping over that _one_ step every morning. Seriously, it was like he was being tripped every morning by a stair imp or something. Ice in hand already, Sugoroku handed Yuugi an icepack for his face and then proceeded to finish mixing the rice with the egg and soy sauce. Thirty-seconds later, they both started digging into their delicious (did I also mention that it's healthy?) breakfast. Of course though, they only started digging in after traditionally saying "Itadakimasu."(2)

Yuugi's bad luck decided to not give him a break and kept a constant streak of incidents going and ended up burning Yuugi's tongue, which made him drop his spoon down onto the ground, only to have Yuugi trip over it when he got up to put it into the sink.

"Owww..." Yuugi muttered while rubbing his backside tenderly, trying to massage the pain away in gentile circular motions that would shame any professional masseuse.

"Yuugi." Sugoroku said calmly, still holding a spoon up to his mouth with one hand and holding the newspaper in the other, coming dangerously close to dropping the contents on his spoon to the paper. "Y-yes, Grandpa?" Yuugi weaseled out, his morning voice letting out a small squeak.(A.N:Don't you hate it in the morning when your throat hurts and when you talk for the first few minutes of the morning, your throat lets out sounds that sounds like a mouse's strangled squeaks?)

"You're going to be late for school." Sugoroku said while holding the appearance of enlightened calmness, that is, until he did drop his food on his newspaper finally. His eyes had momentarily scrunched up in anger before they instantly turned into an embarrassed, yet humorous shade of dull amethyst.

Yuugi got up, grabbed his school bag, and was off sprinting to school after yelling a rushed goodbye to his grandpa. His mind was set on not being late, not because he wanted to keep a perfect attendance, no. Perfect attendance was unimportant, keeping away from bullies that liked to ditch school, _that_ was important. And so his day begun.  
>~~~ ~~~<p>

Sugoroku was in the basement, looking at old artifacts that he had found during his digs in Egypt. He had given the Millennium Puzzle to Yuugi yesterday, and if he could solve it, he could wish for anything he wanted. _Anything._ Hopefully the puzzle would find Yuugi worthy of its power, and grant his wish. For everything that the boy had been through, he deserved that wish. Only him. The puzzle hadn't found him worthy, but maybe, just maybe it would find Yuugi worthy; it had to.

Whenever he had tried to solve the puzzle, it was like the puzzle rejected him as soon as his hands touched the golden peaces, warning him that he needed to leave it alone. It left the feeling of rejection crawling on his hands, like a reminder that he won't be accepted by it and won't be able to be accepted by anything else again, but when he saw Yuugi come home battered after what was most likely a bullying, the magic instantly reacted to the boy. It went from something negative and rejecting to something almost... _caring. _It was a strange change, but Sugoroku was grateful for it.

But, even if the puzzle seemed to_...like_ Yuugi, Sugoruko still worried. There was no information on anyone in history ever solving the puzzle, but there was a lot of information on the brutal deaths that had happened to the people that were rejected by the puzzle. Hearing the details of any of the deaths would make one fall into a depressive state and withdraw from any social life for a while, like crawling in a hole until everything bad in the outside world would fade away to a distant memory. If the puzzle had the power to do horrible things like he had heard in gruesome details many a time before, what would happen to Yuugi _after _he solved the puzzle and made a wish? Solving the puzzle sets the spirit trapped within out into the world, so the spirit that did all those horrible things, would it do anything to Yuugi after it is released?

Sugoroku thought for a second, and then released a long sigh. He had no time to take back his decision, he couldn't go back in time and stop himself from giving the puzzle to Yuugi. He wondered why he had given Yuugi the puzzle in the first place while he had all these worries concerning it still, could it be possible the puzzle enchanted him while he was debating it yesterday in the basement? It's highly possible, believable? no. Even though he had all his worries, he knew somewhere deep down that the puzzle wouldn't harm Yuugi, but what's wrong with worrying? Yuugi was the last of his family, of course he would be worried about Yuugi's safety. It's basic human instinct to want to ensure that their genes will live on, and it's love that makes humans (maybe not all humans) cherish and wish the best for those around them. There's nothing wrong with that.

But even with all his worries, Sugoroku knew that the puzzle is Yuugi's only chance to get some chance of a happy life. If he does solve the puzzle, he could wish the bad luck away, or...he _could _wish his parents back. Sugoroku wasn't a fool, he knew Yuugi often thought about his parents and what happened to them, though he couldn't tell Yuugi that. The story was too gruesome to tell, worse than the stories of the victims that were rejected by the Millennium Puzzle. And if Yuugi's wish for his parents WAS granted, there's no telling what _condition_ the puzzle would bring them back in. He shivered just thinking about it as a chill washed over his entire body. Thank Ra that Yuugi was too young to remember anything when the incident happened, if he remembered, Sugoroku had no doubt that the boy would'be spent the rest of his life in an asylum.

(WARNING! It gets a little bit gory in this paragraph)

Images started to quickly flow through his head like a movie as he got closer to a certain box: blood, everywhere. Droplets hanging onto the ceiling, the walls, the furniture, and even on the victims faces, falling with every vibration, sound, and second made within the walls. There wasn't one spot left that wasn't covered with blood, the whole room was painted in it, and that horrible smell! The smell of rotting flesh and decay coated everything and clung onto anything it could get its ghastly grips on. It's too horrible to remember. Too heart breaking.

Grabbing the box and skillfully peeling the cheap tape layers off in a matter of a few minutes, Sugoroku lowered his head to the box to peer in. This thing, he vowed to never let Yuugi near it. Sugoroku considered it to be Yuugi's parents murderer, even though it was just an object. An object to be feared, and object of death and insanity twisted into one: the Millennium Rod.

**Author Note starts here! :)**

**I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter (and picked up on some hints). I also found that two people had alerted my story, and I wanted to say, "Thank you!" Seriously, whenever I get a review or alert, my heart just beats faster and I get seriously happy, and I magically want to write another chapter. And... I'm still looking for a beta by the way.**

**(1)I found something extraordinarily interesting about Yuugi's natural hair color that has left me to believe that Yuugi heritage isn't completely Japanese and that the artist of Yu-Gi-Oh! Wasn't crazy about weird colored hair styles. Apparently, Israelites that conquered the land of the Amorites and were referred by Egyptians as people from the land of Amuru, had been depicted on Egyptian monuments having a mixture of people with red, blonde, or black haired people (though I'm not sure if there was any one person that had all three colors). Just think, if it's possible for blonds to have brown roots and still have blonde hair, then it's very well possible that Yuugi could have blonde roots and dark, dark red hair. And...gasp, some people were depicted with light pinkish pale skin also! **

**(2)If y'all are not very familiar with Japenese terms, then here is some simple info on Itadakimasu. Itadakimasu is said before someone eats, and translates into, "thank you for the food."**

**And here is just something interesting I came across while researching information about Yuugi's strange (yet exotic) hair color, apparently Seth (who is Seto's past life in Yu-Gi-Oh, but is a god in Egyptian mythology, and I find it funny that apparently the Egyptians found him as a negative god. *snickers*) is of Hebrew heritage, though I don't really have any back up information that makes sense enough to prove this in detail from the website I'm getting this from. So it's just something interesting, not fact until I find some evidence and truth.**

**Sorry for the long author's note and thank you :) Just PM me if you find long authors notes a problem, but if you like the extra information I find, I'll find some way to keep supplying it without annoying other readers that read this fic.**


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